Full recording of the “Title IX Rewrite: Implementation, Legal Implications, and the Threat to Women” press call can be found here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On July 31—the eve of the Biden-Harris administration’s illegal Title IX rewrite taking effect today, August 1, 2024—Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) and IWF Ambassador Riley Gaines held a press call joined by U.S. Members of Congress and legal experts May Mailman and Cameron Norris, alongside high school female athlete Payton McNabb, who was left severely injured by a male competitor, and legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova, to discuss the implementation of the new Title IX rule and its devastating impact on women.

Riley Gaines, 12x All-American swimmer, 5x SEC Champion and record holder, Independent Women’s Forum ambassador, host of “Gaines for Girls” on OutKick, and plaintiff in Gaines et al. v. NCAA, began the call by stating that, “While the Biden-Harris administration disingenuously claims that their new rule doesn’t apply to sports, they’ve established the default position that school activities limited to women only or men only are presumptively discriminatory. The Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly insisted in court filings and in public pronouncements that Title IX requires schools to allow males who identify as trans to play in women’s sports; they cannot have it both ways. Either they use Title IX to force schools to allow men on women’s sports teams, or if they’re not, then schools should stop the madness right now.”

Martina Navratilova, OLY, one of the greatest tennis players of all time and founding member of the Women’s Sports Policy Working Group, said, “I’ve been fighting for fairness all my life, that’s been kind of my North Star, what’s fair. And it’s clearly obvious that it is not fair for women to have to compete against men, for females to compete against males in any sport. I feel that the Democrats have kind of been captured by the trans lobby, who have been very organized for decades now. They don’t know what they’re doing. They have no idea how this affects women. If you allow this rule to go into effect, you will disavow and invalidate women in sports, and make it very lopsided.”

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), sponsor of the Senate’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful Title IX rules, explained, “Last month, Senator Cassidy and I introduced the CRA joint resolution of the disapproval, and as you will know, the CRA is a tool that we use in Congress that can be used to overturn certain federal agency actions, and so that’s our goal there. And we actually have 34 co-sponsors now. And this particular one, the good thing about this is it just takes a simple majority to pass it. So many times, we have to have 60 votes, but this is just a simple majority. And the measure that passed on the House side, it passed on July 11th, and that just brought us one close step closer to putting a majority in Congress on the record as opposing these radical changes.”

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) stated, “The big concern that I have is that the rule applies to bathrooms, locker rooms, and shower areas, which means that schools and colleges could lose federal funding if they require students to use the facilities corresponding to their biological sex. And then it also expands the definition of sexual harassment to include addressing someone with the pronouns that align with his or her sex, that conflicts with his or her preferred gender. This is bending the norms of life that have existed for millennia.”

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) said, “The Biden-Harris administration might not be able to define what a woman is, but they are waging a systematic and deliberate campaign to eliminate Title IX and destroy women’s sports. 50 years ago, Title IX created opportunity and allowed girls across America to dream. And we’re all watching the Olympics right now, and I can’t help but think that we are all witnessing those dreams become reality for so many of our young female athletes. … But just think about it: If Biden and Harris had their way, Katie Ledecky might have never earned a single medal for our nation had she been forced to compete against biological males.”

Senator Tommy Tubberville (R-AL), who formerly was the longtime football coach for Auburn University, said, “Tomorrow is a sad day for our country when it comes to sports. I’ve lived it, dreamed it, all my life, and the positive things that have happened to many young men and women in sports is priceless. But tomorrow, the Biden-Harris’s Department of Education [is] going to take a sledgehammer to Title IX. Tomorrow, women and girls will no longer have any—any—spaces or protections. People should understand that. Starting tomorrow, girls will be forced to share locker rooms with boys, they’re going to lose scholarships to boys.”

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, added, “The new rule that has been proposed is a real slap in the face to women and girls who prepare for competition and now have to compete on an uneven playing field by competing against biological men. It’s unjust, it’s directly in conflict with athletics’ core principles of integrity and fairness. I want to encourage everybody to keep fighting. I’ll keep fighting with you because this rule coming out of the Biden-Harris office is hurtful. It limits opportunities for women and girls, and it’s totally unacceptable.”

Cameron Norris, partner at Consovoy McCarthy PLLC, representing Independent Women’s Law Center in Alabama v. Cardona and counsel in Tennessee v. Cardona, explained the limits of lower court decisions across the country that have ruled against the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rewrite: “Lots of litigation has been largely successful, but these courts, when they say that the Title IX rule is unlawful, what they’ve been doing is only freezing it in the states that actually bring those cases. So that means that the rule will go into effect tomorrow for about half of the country.”

While Alabama v. Cardona was denied the motion for a preliminary injunction, upon swift action to appeal, the 11th circuit yesterday granted an administrative injunction — pausing the implementation in the southern states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. Further briefing takes place over the next week.

Payton McNabb, IWF ambassador and former North Carolina high school volleyball player who was severely injured by a male on the women’s volleyball court, wrapped the call stating: “I’m just going to continue to keep fighting for my sister and all the other female athletes, and females in general, who deserve these basic rights that are being taken away from us. I had a lot of plans for my future. I grew up playing sports. I was a three-sport athlete my whole life, I come from a big athletic family, and so I had the hopes of competing one day in college. I went into my senior year of high school, and in the first week of school, I was severely injured in that volleyball game. So that put me out the rest of my final season of volleyball, and it made it difficult for me to continue playing sports for the remainder of the year.”

BACKGROUND:

UNLAWFUL TITLE IX RULES

In April, the Biden-Harris administration unilaterally issued an administrative rule that unlawfully alters Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in education. The Biden-Harris rule discriminates against women and girls by mandating that schools permit males to take opportunities and enter private spaces designated for females. 

WHAT THEY DO

  • The rule says Title IX’s prohibition on “sex” discrimination actually means “gender identity” discrimination, meaning schools must allow males into women’s spaces if the male claims a need based on his “gender identity.”
  • The Biden-Harris administration has made clear in legal filings that it interprets Title IX as requiring schools to allow males to self-identify onto women’s teams.
  • The rule also changes the definition of sexual harassment to include so-called “misgendering.” Even a single use of non-preferred pronouns could trigger a Title IX investigation.
  • The rule dismantles due process protections for those accused of “sexual harassment,” which as of August 1 could mean complaining about men in women’s spaces or “misgendering.”

LEGISLATIVE ACTION

Earlier this month, the House passed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful Title IX rules. The Senate’s Title IX CRA, sponsored by U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), is expected to be considered in the coming weeks. If passed by the Senate, this legislation would be advanced to the Biden-Harris White House.

In addition to congressional action to overturn the Biden administration’s illegal administrative rewrite of Title IX, lawsuits across the country are successfully challenging the regulation. Moreover, 30 states have declared they will not comply with the new rules. 

OUR BODIES, OUR SPORTS “TAKE BACK TITLE IX” BUS TOUR

This nationwide pushback reflects a groundswell of bipartisan support for protecting Title IX and women’s single-sex spaces. In June, Independent Women’s Forum organized the Our Bodies, Our Sports “Take Back Title IX” Summer 2024 Bus Tour, visiting 30 states in 30 days and drawing about 3,000 people to rally-style events across America to educate and inform the public about the Biden-Harris administration’s new Title IX regulations. Supporters signed open letters to the Biden-Harris administration and congressional leadership to demand the illegal Title IX rewrite be reversed. 

For more information or to speak with an expert, email [email protected]

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